Notice Information
Notice Title
Financial Audit
Notice Description
The vision of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) is to provide independence and excellence in audit to improve public services and its purpose is to make sure public money is spent properly. The NIAO intends to procure a number of financial audit services to support the high-quality delivery of our portfolio of financial audits. We intend to provide these services through a procurement exercise which will be launched in early 2026. We plan to contract out these audits through a lot based structure. For audit engagements under the contract, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) or the Local Government Auditor (LGA) will retain overall responsibility for signing the audit opinion. Audits will need to be carried out to internationally recognised auditing standards but also adapted to the public sector reporting framework, which includes the Government Financial Reporting Manual for central government bodies and Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom for local government audits. Central government work also includes ensuring that transactions have been applied to the purposes intended by the Assembly and conform to the authorities which govern them (regularity). We anticipate that the contract term will be for a minimum initial period of 3 years with an option to extend by two further periods of one year each.
Planning Information
The NIAO would like to invite potential suppliers to submit any questions they may have on the process to (procurement@niauditoffice.gov.uk ). Once 9th January 2026 has passed, the NIAO will collate all questions and answers to them and post this information on its website. All questions and their answers will be anonymised and no commercially sensitive information will be shared. The NIAO will not respond specifically to the individual/firm which posted the question. The NIAO will publish its response to queries as soon as possible and hopes to do this by 16th January 2026. The NIAO would also like to seek views from suppliers on the content and structure of the suggested lots attached to this notice. At this stage in the process the NIAO has not decided on the content or structure of the lots or on the number of lots. Any views on the lots should be submitted to the email address above and by the deadline above for consideration. Following certification of central government accounts, the accounts need to be laid in the Assembly. They need to be laid before the Assembly summer recess. For the 2026-27 year, whilst dates are not confirmed yet, it is likely to be 2nd July. This applies to all options set out here. Option 1: Possible Audit Lots and Number of accounts per body Lot 1 South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust - 3 accounts (main Trust account, Patients' and residents' Money account and Charitable Trust account) Northern Ireland Statistics Agency - 1 account NI Environment Agency - 1 account Lot 2 Business Services Organisation - 1 account General Consumer Council - 1 account Labour Relations Agency - 1 account Lot 3 Belfast Health and Social Care Trust - 3 accounts (main Trust account, Patients' and residents' Money account and Charitable Trust account) Health and Safety Executive NI - 1 account NI Screen - 1 account _ Option 2 : Possible Audit Lots and Number of accounts per body Lot 1 South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust - 3 accounts (main Trust account, Patients' and residents' Money account and Charitable Trust account) Belfast Health and Social Care Trust - 3 accounts (main Trust account, Patients' and residents' Money account and Charitable Trust account) Business Services Organisation - 1 account Lot 2 General Consumer Council - 1 account Labour Relations Agency - 1 account Health and Safety Executive NI - 1 account NI Screen - 1 account Northern Ireland Statistics Agency - 1 account NI Environment Agency - 1 account _ Option 3: Possible Audit Lots and Number of accounts per body Lot 1 South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust - 3 accounts (main Trust account, Patients' and residents' Money account and Charitable Trust account) Belfast Health and Social Care Trust - 3 accounts (main Trust account, Patients' and residents' Money account and Charitable Trust account) Business Services Organisation - 1 account Lot 2 General Consumer Council - 1 account Northern Ireland Statistics Agency - 1 account Labour Relations Agency - 1 account Lot 3 Health and Safety Executive NI - 1 account NI Screen - 1 account NI Environment Agency - 1 account
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-05f852
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/084045-2025
- Current Stage
- Planning
- All Stages
- Planning
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Services
- Procurement Method
- Not Specified
- Procurement Method Details
- Not specified
- Tender Suitability
- SME
- Awardee Scale
- Not specified
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
-
- CPV Codes
79210000 - Accounting and auditing services
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- £1,982,000 £1M-£10M
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- Not specified
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 17 Dec 20252 months ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- 9 Jan 2026Expired
- Award Date
- Not specified
- Contract Period
- 1 Nov 2026 - 31 Oct 2029 3-4 years
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Planning
- Lots Status
- Planning
- Awards Status
- Not Specified
- Contracts Status
- Not Specified
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- NORTHERN IRELAND AUDIT OFFICE
- Contact Name
- Not specified
- Contact Email
- procurement@niauditoffice.gov.uk
- Contact Phone
- 02890 251000
Buyer Location
- Locality
- BELFAST
- Postcode
- BT7 1EU
- Post Town
- Northern Ireland
- Country
- Northern Ireland
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLN Northern Ireland
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLN0 Northern Ireland
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLN06 Belfast
- Delivery Location
- TLN Northern Ireland
-
- Local Authority
- Belfast
- Electoral Ward
- Central
- Westminster Constituency
- Belfast South and Mid Down
Further Information
Notice Documents
-
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/084045-2025
17th December 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
View full OCDS Record for this contracting process
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.
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